Description

Libertarians often bill their theory as an alternative to both the traditional Left and Right. The Routledge Handbook of Libertarianism helps readers fully examine this alternative without preaching it to them, exploring the contours of libertarian (sometimes also called classical liberal) thinking on justice, institutions, interpersonal ethics, government, and political economy. The 31 chapters--all written specifically for this volume--are organized into five parts. Part I asks, what should libertarianism learn from other theories of justice, and what should defenders of other theories of justice learn from libertarianism? Part II asks, what are some of the deepest problems facing libertarian theories? Part III asks, what is the right way to think about property rights and the market? Part IV asks, how should we think about the state? Finally, part V asks, how well (or badly) can libertarianism deal with some of the major policy challenges of our day, such as immigration, trade, religion in politics, and paternalism in a free market. Among the Handbook's chapters are those from critics who write about what they believe libertarians get right as well as others from leading libertarian theorists who identify what they think libertarians get wrong. As a whole, the Handbook provides a comprehensive, clear-eyed look at what libertarianism has been and could be, and why it matters.

Reviews

"This is the best contemporary anthology introducing the reader to the basics of libertarianism."

--Tyler Cowen, George Mason University

"What a cornucopia! Handbooks are, of course, designed to be useful, but this one is also great fun as friends and critics insightfully converse across the range of libertarian issues. I shall keep my copy close at hand."

--Loren Lomasky, University of Virginia

"The Routledge Handbook of Libertarianism is a distinctive and distinctively valuable contribution to the literature. Those of us who work in political philosophy are indebted to the editors for assembling such an extraordinarily accomplished group of authors to write on the most important and pressing issues within and related to libertarianism."

--Christopher Heath Wellman, Washington University

Table of Contents

TABLE OF CONTENTS

Acknowledgements

Introduction

Libertarianism in conversation with other theories

Learning from libertarianism: thanks from an unrepentant social democrat

Richard W. Miller

Libertarianism without Locke

Jacob Levy

Hayekian Classical Liberalism

Gerald Gaus

Democracy and equality versus libertarianism and classical liberalism

Richard Arneson

Kant’s Liberalism

Chris W. Suprenant

What’s Wrong with Libertarianism? The Meritocratic Diagnosis

Thomas Mulligan

Liberal Libertarians: Why Libertarianism is a Liberal View

Peter J. Boettke and Rosolino A. Candela

Liberal and Illiberal Libertarianism

Samuel Freeman

Questioning libertarian principles

Feminism and the Libertarian Self-Ownership Thesis

Ann Cudd

Self-love, justice, and cooperation

Eric Mack

Exception Rights

Nicolás Maloberti

The Sufficiency Proviso: A Case for Moderate Libertarianism

Fabian Wendt

Liberty: A PPE Approach

Jason Brennan

The Myths of the Self-Ownership Thesis

Jason Brennan and Bas van der Vossen

Social Contractarianism

John Thrasher

The role of property and the market:

What can be for sale?

Peter Martin Jaworski

Property Rights: Natural, Conventional, or Hybrid?

Anna Stilz

Is Wealth Redistribution a Rights Violation?

Michael Huemer

Trade

Fernando Tesón

Non-Libertarian Defenses of Economic Rights as Basic Rights

Queralt

What is the role of the state?

Ideal Theory

Samuel Freeman

Private Goverance

Edward Peter Stringham

Libertarianism and the Welfare State

Matt Zwolinski

Government failure and market failure

Michael Munger

Freedom and Knowledge

Ilya Somin

Applied libertarian issues:

The Libertarian Case for Open Borders

Javier Hidalgo

Religion and Politics

Kevin Vallier

A Libertarian Approach to Medicine

Jessica Flanigan

Tolerance

Ryan Muldoon

Paternalism and The Limits of Liberty

Sarah Conly

Free markets and exploitation

Hillel Steiner

About the Editors

Jason Brennan is the Robert J. and Elizabeth Flanagan Family Chair of Strategy, Economics, Ethics, and Public Policy at the McDonough School of Business, Georgetown University, where he teaches courses in the intersection of politics, philosophy, and economics. He is the author or co-author of seven books, including Against Democracy (2016), Markets without Limits, with Peter Jaworski (2015), and Why Not Capitalism? (2014).

Bas van der Vossen is Associate Professor of Philosophy in the Smith Institute of Political Economy and Philosophy, Chapman University. He is the author, together with Fernando Tesón, of Debating Humanitarian Intervention (2017).

David Schmidtz is Kendrick Professor of Philosophy at the College of Social & Behavior Sciences and Eller Chair of Service-Dominant Logic at the College of Management, the University of Arizona. He is the author, co-author, or co-editor of 14 book publications.